Hand fence-machine



(Model.)

v M. HAYS.

A HAND EENGE MACHINE. No. 472,167. Pate-med Apr. 5, 1892.

UNrrn STATES Prion.

Arent MORRIS HAYS,'OF MONMOUTI-I, ILLINOIS.

HAND FENCE-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming per@ of Lettere Patent rre/172,167, dated April 5,1892.

Application nea Meer 30,1891. serai No. 387,062. (Medel.)

To otZZ whom it may concern.:

1 Be it known that I, MORRIS HAYS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Monmouth,

' in the county of Warren and Stateof Illinois,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hand Fence-Machinesfor Viring Wood Fences; and I do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying4 drawings, and to the letters ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in hand fen'ce-machines'forwiring wood fences;

and it has for its objects the provision of an improved wire-twistingdevice traveling upon and between guide-rings attached to a suitablesupport and the more'perfect regulation of the tension upon the fenceand stay wires than has heretofore been attained.

Other objects and advantages of the inven-A tion will appear in thefollowing description, and the novelty thereof will be particularlypointed out in the claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accom- I panying drawings, whichform a part of this rial, and secured thereto or made integral therewithare several pairs of guide-rings B B. The guide-rings of each pair areheld at a suitable distance apart by means of washers b, secured inposition by pins or bolts c, passing through ears d or similarprojections from the peripheral surfaces of said guiderings, and nuts cor other suitable fastening devices may be used to hold the guide-ringsin proper position with relation to each other, so that the wire-twistermay work freely between them and travel in a plane parallel to theplanes of said guide-rings. This wiretwister is constructed as follows:The flanges e and e2, formed integral with the segment e, Fig. 3, travelupon the inner and outer peripheral surfaces of the guide-rings, theears d being considerably thinner than the guiderings in order to enablethe flanges e to travel freely along the peripheries thereof, as shownin Fig. 4. The arms f, formed integral with the segment and its flangesand at right angles thereto, are squared' at their outer ends for thereception of wire-guides g g. These wireguides are slottedlongitudinally through almost their entire length and can be readilyadjusted at any desired position upon the squared ends of the arms f bymeans of nuts h and screws 'i in order to allow for the size of thematerial used in the construction of the fence. The inner ends of thewire-guides are hooked, as at g2 g3, to receive the fence-wires and toguide the wire over the wire-carrier la. These hooks serve, also, toprevent the slipping of the fence-wires and the formation of knots orshort twists in the same. The wire-carrier is made,preferably,in theshape of a cleat, as shown, and is formed integral with the segment, itsflanges, and the arms f. Its position is approximately midway betweensaid arms and in the plane of the segment.

The tension device which I use in connection with the wire-twistingapparatus is shown in Fig. 5. The spindle Z, mounted in the forks m m,carries a ratchet-wheel n near one fork. A ratchet o, fastened to saidfork by the pin p, engages with the teeth of said ratchetwheel andprevents the unwinding of the staywire s, which is wound around saidspindle and passes through a hole therein, the slack of the wire beingtaken up by coiling it upon the spindle. The arm m', attached toorformed integral with the forks m m, has upon its sides rows of studsor lugs m2 m2, lying in the samehorizontal plane. The heads of theselugs are larger than the necks in order to keep the wires in place whenwoven among said lugs, and the distance between the lugs is sufficientto admit wires of different sizes and to prevent any unnecessary bendingof such-wires. These lugs are rounded and grooved alternately on theiropposite faces to form elliptical cross-sections in line with thefence-wires IOO and to still further reduce the danger of short bendsforming in said wires.

The operation of my machine is as follows: As many pairs of wires arefirst secured to the starting-post as are desired,and the wires arewoven among the lugs of the tension devices, stay-wires being secured tothe spindles Z, as before described, and to a distant post. The properdegree of tension having been obtained by winding the stay-wires uponthe spindles, the operator grasps the handles A and A2 and inserts thewires through the unobstructed openings B2 in the guide-rings, passingone wire of each pair through the hooks g2 of the wire-guides and overthe arms 7c of the wirefcarrier and the other wire over the hooks g3 andthe arms 7a2. It will be apparent that if the operator then draws theapparatus toward himself the wires will carry each of the wire-twistersfrom the position shown in Fig. I to a point near the openings B2. Byelevating the apparatus suiciently the wire-twisters are then carried toa point opposite their first position and the guiderings will have beenmoved through an arc of one hundred and eighty degrees. If the operatorthen pushes the apparatus from him, the wire-twisters will take uppositions opposite the openings B2 and the guide-rings will have movedthrough an arc of two hundred and seventy degrees. If the apparatus isthen lowered, the wire-twisters will return to the position shown inFig. I and the guiderings will have madea complete turn of three hundredand sixty degrees, and each pair of wires will have been twisted once.Although I have described four movements as being necessary to bringabout the twisting of each pair of wires, it is evident that there arenot, strictly speaking, four distinct movements, but that the movementof the apparatus is really a circular one in a plane in line wit-h ntheguide-rings, as `it is obvious that the guide-rings must move insubstantially a circle about the fence-wires. One twist having beengiven to each pair of wires, a picket is inserted between them, and atwist in the opposite direction is made by reversing the movement of theapparatus so that the guiderings will turnV in a direction opposite tothat before described-that is to say, the operator will rst push theapparatus from him, then lower it, then draw it toward himself, andfinally raise it. As many twists as desired can be given each way. Thepicket will then be held securely in place between the twists in thewires. A second picket is then inserted and the operations above described are repeated. It will be evident that as the twisting of thewires is continued the tension on the wires will graduallybecomegreater, owing to the weight of the pickets and the shortening of thewires, and that the said wires will gradually slip through the lugs m2of the tension device and preserve the required degree of tension. Thismay be regulated either by increasing or decreasing the number of saidlugs, according to the character of the materials of which the fence isto be made, or by weaving the wire over and under the lugs singly orunder and over two or more at a time. The adjustment of the wire-guidesg g' toward and from each other by means of the nuts 7L and the screws ito permit of the insertion between the wires of thin or thick picketsfacilitates greatly the work of the operator.

I do not wish to be understood as limiting lnyself to the exact detailsof construction shown and described, as it is evident that they may bemodified without departing from the spirit of the invention. Forinstance, the iianges e of the wire-twisters may work in grooves in theopposing plane faces of the guide-rings. The wire-carrier 7c and thearms f might also be removed and the wire-guides adj ustably secured tothe inner peri pheries of the segments.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

l. Ahand fence-machine comprising guiderings secured in pairs to asuitable support and a wire-twister for each pair of guiderings, adaptedto travel circumferentially around and between and in a plane parallelto the planes of the same.

' 2. A tension device for hand fence ma- ,"chines, havinglateralprojections from each side of the body at one end thereof, saidprojections being rounded and grooved alternately on their oppositefaces to form elliptical cross-sections in line with the fencewires andat the other end thereof having means for securing a stay-wire.

3. In a wire-twister for hand fencema- IOO chines, a pair of wire-guidesindependently adjustable upon arms extending at right angles to the bodyof said twister and having their adjacent ends hooked for the receptionof the wires, substantially as described.

4. In a hand fence-machine, the combination, with a pair of guide-'ringsB B, of a wiretwister consisting of the segment e, iianged at e and e2,wire-carrier 7c, armsf, and the adjustable wire-guides secured to theends of said arms, substantially as described.

5. A tension device consisting of the body portion carrying the two rowsof lugs m2, rounded and grooved alternately on their opposite faces toform elliptical cross-sections in line with the fence-Wires, and forks mm, spindle Z, ratchet-wheel n, ratchet o, secured to one of the forks bythe pin p, and a crank for turning the spindle, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I alix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MORRIS IIAYS.

Witnesses:

SAM. S. IIALLAM, Josnrn Dnvonn.

IIO

